Hot Dish Review

In anticipation of my lunch with BG at Stir It Up in Little Five Points, I bought a 6-pack of Red Stripe….Light. With no liquor license, the restaurant allows diners to BYOB, so I packed a cooler.

It was bittersweet to find Stir It Up located in the old space that used to house D & D, a Volkswagon service and restoration garage. I remember stopping by there in the Winter with SS, huddled by a heater in the shabbily furnished waiting area. Those were the days of Karmann Ghias and velvet Jesus paintings. It was strange to see the space decorated with vibrant Jamaican colors, the smell of jerk spices in the air a pleasant change from the noxious engine fumes.

Our plan to dine at Stir It Up was already made when I discovered the restaurant was recently listed as one of Cliff Bostock’s Top 10 of 2012 in Creative Loafing. He loves their inexpensive yet authentic menu. We chose it because BG is a vegetarian and Stir It Up offers a plentiful selection of meatless dishes…and it’s cheap.

We chose a table in the sunny front room and requested a bottle opener. BG ordered the tofu chop suey which we were warned would take an extra fifteen minutes, odd since it was simply vegetables and tofu. I was torn between the jerk and curry, hoping to choose the spiciest dish available. Our server recommended the chicken curry for me, which I ordered with rice and peas.

Our lunches arrived as we popped open our second round of beers. BG’s tofu, cut into triangles, was in a tasty brown sauce, probably the same one used in the brown stew dishes with meat. An oily yellow curry enveloped my bone-in chunks of chicken, the meat falling off the bones at the touch of my fork. I wouldn’t describe the dish as spicy, but it was certainly delicious. BG was perplexed at the rice with peas, as the peas were actually red beans. Neither the rice nor the chop suey that accompanied my curry was inspiring, but for $8, there were no complaints.

My only disappointment with the food was the thin sliver of plantain. When I visited Jamaica, I loved the thick-sliced sweet plantains served with ackee and salt fish at breakfast.

And then we got the check. It included a $10 corkage fee for our beer. Ouch! No one mentioned the fee when I called or when I came in with my cooler….so much for cheap.

1083 Euclid Avenue NE 404-963-2384

A sad goodbye to the scene of much debauchery….
It’s hard to believe I haven’t reviewed Bluepointe until now. The restaurant is an Atlanta staple and the scene of so many memorable (and crazy!) evenings. Like crashing (former) Dallas Maverick’s Steve Nash’s private birthday bash upstairs and my own private birthday bash several years later, complete with champagne and lobster.

As I’ve said in a recent post, I’m a sucker for tradition. Or perhaps I’m merely a creature of habit. I always get the lobster at Bluepointe. In my many visits I have tried practically every dish until I discovered the lobster. Since then, I’ve been loyal to the 2lb. shellfish in curry.

The peanut crusted grouper is awesome and so are the scallops. The calamari appetizer used to be very spicy and amazing but it has become increasingly boring over the years with the predominant flavor being soy.

And ever since me and AD attended a Veuve party at Bluepointe I can’t seem to order anything else to drink there. Many bottles have been consumed since then.

My visit to Bluepointe last night was an exercise in irony. Or deja vu. I was wearing the blue dress, the same one I wore to my birthday dinner. I had champagne and lobster. And I was with LC….just a different one.

Seated at one of the more intimate tables near the bar where me and AD used to sit, LC was somewhat intoxicated and rather ravenous. I asked for a dish of the rice crackers they used to have at the bar but was disheartened to learn they no longer serve them. I would have dumped the snacks in my purse just for old time’s sake!

We started off with edamame and ordered two more appetizers to share. Wanting to try something different I chose the calamari salad. Although it has been many years, I always associate fried calamari on greens with one of my favorite neighborhood restaurants in New York called OG (Oriental Grill). Theirs was a perfectly assembled dish of impeccable field greens, fried calamari, and a slightly sweet Asian dressing.

I was impressed with Bluepointe’s version, with tempura calamari, arugula, sweet mango, crispy apple, cashews, and razor thin radish slices, lightly dressed with a subtly sweet Asian vinaigrette. A perfectly balanced composition, both in flavor and texture.

LC wanted to try the short rib wontons in umami broth. Umami is the culinary buzzword de jour, loosely translated as indescribable deliciousness. The Japanese are so cerebral. Three wontons filled with beef swam in a brown broth. Sorry, no umami, just a fistfull of salt in the overwhelmingly soy based broth. More champagne.

We had much better luck with the dependably delicious curry lobster. Served with baby asparagus, bok choy and Asian long beans in a slightly spicy yellow curry, it was as succulent as ever. The enormous lobster makes two generous entree portions. As a side, LC couldn’t resist the corn mash, yellow corn with lots of butter, which turned out to be his favorite dish of the evening.

For dessert I went back to my usual chai creme brulee. Not a fan of lemon sorbet I asked to substitute the orange sorbet which came out in a fun cube shape. The candied ginger on top of the crispy sugar really makes it special. We scarfed it down, along with another glass of champagne.

Now we were ready to dance!

Just one of 80 restaurants participating in Taste of Atlanta October 22nd and 23rd!The Niyomkul family is to Thai food in Atlanta what the Bastianich family is to Italian food in New York. Charlie and Nan have given us an authentic taste of Thailand for many years with Tamarind (now closed), Tamarind Seed, and Nan.

Now their daughter DeeDee is at the helm of their latest operation, Tuk Tuk Thai Loft in the Brookwood Hills shopping center. Her focus is on street food, some of the same dishes her grandmother prepared as a street food vendor in Bangkok years ago.

Entering the tiny lobby, one is greeted by a shiny new motorized rickshaw, called a tuk tuk, complete with orange and white leather seating. It is surely a prop for many visitor photo opps, especially after a few drinks.

From there, guests take an elevator to the third floor which opens to reveal a gorgeous space, a brilliant renovation from its former incarnation as Taurus.

Greeted by Thaddeus Keefe, chef DeeDee’s fiance’ and business partner, he gave me a brief tour of the dining room and kitchen, each element brought from Thailand and painstakingly chosen by the couple. Speaking of their decision to open Tuk Tuk, Keefe quipped “We were going to get married but ended up having a baby instead (laughing)”.

Seated by the manager CY at a table next to a large shelf filled with Asian cookies and such in metal canisters, B and I ordered a bottle of red wine. We both loved the restaurant’s sleek decor with dark wood tables and elegant lighting. Each table had one odd chair. Naturally, I chose to sit in the lone tapestry armchair which was quite low, requiring CY to bring me a booster cushion without missing a beat. The staff was just that accomodating throughout our meal.

B joined me for a menu sampling that started off conservative but ended in full-on gluttony. Thaddeus recommended small tastes of several starters, beginning with a single serving of a popular street snack called mieng kum, beautifully presesnted on a spinach leaf with chopped peanuts, lime, ginger, onions, and coconut, the flavor of each ingredient clear and pronounced.

An assortment of skewers were presented, two each of beef, pork, and mini beef meatballs, suspended from a metal frame with dipping sauces below. Both B and I favored the beef with the tamarind chili sauce. A side of sticky rice in a tiny bamboo steamer reminded me of the sticky rice I used to get in New York, the size of a baseball, wrapped in plastic wrap.

The third item from the menu’s small plates was the hoy tod, a crispy omelette with mussels recommended by friends on Facebook. Sounded interesting, but with most things described as crispy, it was battered and fried. It was topped with scallions, cilantro and “three flavored chili sauce”. However, I found the main flavor of the sauce to be sweet. Somehow, I think I would have preferred it un-fried.

Thaddeus suggested yum woon sen, a salad composed of minced seafood and chicken on cellophane noodles with fresh lime, onions and a touch of palm sugar. The sliced raw cabbage served alongside reminded me of larb, however, diners aren’t expected to wrap the meat in the leaves. I really enjoyed the spicy salad with the fresh, crisp cabbage…..yum! (pun intended)

Another recommendation from Thaddeus was the kra pow moo made of minced pork with Thai sweet basil and garlic. A mound of rice on the same plate was topped with a battered and fried egg. B and I like our Thai food spicy as hell. With each subsequent dish, we found the heat becoming more and more intense.

For our final savory dish we chose the Panang curry, substituting shrimp for the beef. Rich and spicy, the fragrant curry was excellent over the jasmine rice, full of plump shrimp.

Long before our visit I had read their menu online. The Bangkok snow cone caught my attention. It sounded like my favorite Vietnamese dessert made with shaved ice, coconut milk, red beans, and jellies. Nothing could stop me from ordering it, not even the six courses I had just consumed!

Well, I wish someone had stopped me. The Bangkok snow cone was horrific. An enormous bowl of shaved ice was drizzled with a bright pink “rose syrup” that tasted like cherry. My experience with red beans in Asian desserts is the sweetened canned variety, however, these were regular beans, and I swear there were garbanzos in there too! Texturally, the jellies were good but could not overcome the abomination of the dessert as a whole.

Please go to Spice Market and order the Thai jewels for a delicious riff on the traditional Asian dessert made with shaved ice. Or better yet, go to any Pho house on Buford Highway and point to the picture of a parfait on the menu for the real deal.

DeeDee suggested the coconut tapioca pudding. B wanted fried bananas too. So the kitchen combined the two for a decadent treat that we both loved!

1745 Peachtree Road 678-539-6181

Often named among the best Indian restaurants in Atlanta, Bhojanic has been on my list of places to try for years. I finally had an opportunity to dine there with B. It was her first restaurant review so we were prepared to sample a bit of everything.

The space was warm and inviting with burgundy crushed velvet curtains and soft lighting.

We started with a glass of malbec and an order of naan with raita and chutneys, plus two dishes from the tapas menu, Bhojanic shrimp and eggplant makki ki roti.

Despite my disdain for cucumber, I really like raita. B and I tore off pieces of the naan and dipped it in the cool yogurt sauce. The jumbo shrimp sauteed in a tomato and onion masala were tasty but we were hoping it would be spicier. Likewise, the eggplant dip was somewhat bland, but I loved the traditional Indian flat cornbread that was served with it for dipping.

Chat is described on the menu as a popular Indian street food, consisting of crispy chips or noodles combined with savory toppings and chutneys. It sounded really weird so we had to try it. We chose the chat papri made with crispy flour chips, potato, garbanzo beans, yogurt and mint chutney. I hate mint and requested the chutney on the side. However, as is often the case with Indian food, mint and cilantro are interchangeable, so there was a chance I would, in fact, love it.

The chat arrived, just as weird as we thought. A hodge-podge of crispy chips, cold yogurt, garbanzos…..it was like nachos gone horribly wrong. Turns out I was right about the mint chutney, though. It tasted more like cilantro, loved it!

There is no vindaloo on the menu at Bhojanic. Our server explained the cooking is from a region where the food is not so spicy. So our repeated requests for hot and spicy were met with tepid results.

Not enthralled by the chat, we had saved sufficient room for a thali, a cafeteria style metal tray, each compartment with a different veggie or meat dish. B and I couldn’t decide so we ended up getting two thalis, each with one meat and two veggies.

Each thali comes with rice, chapati (whole wheat flat bread), papadam (crispy lentil cracker), salad, and raita. For our meats we chose the goat curry and the chicken tikka masala. Among the four veggie selections was saag paneer, creamed spinach with cubes of Indian cheese. I often buy the same dish as a frozen entree called palaak paneer by Ethnic Gourmet. It’s delicious. B wanted to try the black lentils called daal makhini and the potatoes and cauliflower, alu gobhi. Our final vegetable was the bhindi masala, sauteed okra with caramelized onions.

We finally got our wish! The goat was pretty spicy, in a yogurt based curry sauce. Unfortunately, goat is always more bones than meat. Another Indian entree I purchase in the health food department at Kroger is Ethnic Gourmet’s chicken tikka masala, boneless tandoori chicken in a tomato cream sauce. Bhojanic’s version was very similar, and therefore very tasty. A couple of beers cooled off our palates.

Of the vegetable sides on our thalis I liked the saag paneer and the okra best, although I don’t remember any caramelized onions with the okra. Both B and I were running out of room, filling up on chapati and chutneys, but ordered one dessert anyway.

We opted for a traditional Indian dessert called rus malai, two small cheese dumplings in a saffron cream sauce. Yes, it was weird. The saffron flavor was nice but the spongey, cheeselike texture was unpleasant.

There aren’t too many things B and I haven’t tried so our intention was to venture out of our comfort zones a bit. Mint chutney, chat, cheese dumplings for dessert….I’d say mission accomplished!

1363 Clairmont Road, Decatur 404-633-9233

My second batch of barley has sparked new experiments as well as repeating the original ones that were so successful, like the breakfast barley with cinnamon, figs, and honey. I love barley’s toothesome quality and it keeps you full for hours!

This time I divided the one cup dry barley into five half-cup cooked servings (rather than four 3/4 cup servings), about 145 calories.

Whole foods has a curried wheatberry salad on their foodbar that I’ve always loved, so I decided to make my own version for lunch today with barley.

Here’s what I used:

1/2 cup cooked barley
1 carrot, chopped
1 scallion, chopped
1/1/2 tsp. olive oil
curry powder, to taste
cilantro
black pepper, to taste
dash of crushed red pepper

On Thursday I told my nutritionist that whenever I eat barley I pair it with vegetables or dried fruits. I automatically think of it as the main component of a meal to build around, rather than a protein.

Then on Friday, I made a total liar out of myself….I ordered grilled shrimp on a bed of greens to eat with my curried barley salad. Quite yummy! The salad was really very good, but something was missing…..

Over the weekend I was picking up some chana masala to pair with another serving of barley so I had the opportunity to look at the ingredient list on their curried wheatberry salad. Honey. That’s what was missing.

Also, my version had carrots instead of green peppers, but I did that on purpose.

Now that I’m on the barley kick, I will certainly make the curry salad again!

How long can you store cooked barley in the fridge? I was hoping a week was not too long last Saturday when I stopped by Whole Foods after the funeral to pick up some cheese and ended up perusing the food bars for accompaniments for my fourth and final serving of leftover barley.

Wanting to stick with the vegetarian theme for my lunch I decided to get some carrots and chana masala, an Indian curry made with chickpeas. I had an odd hankerin’ for the braised greens as a side dish.

When I got home I heated up my barley, seasoned it with black pepper, then topped the bowl with the warm chana masala and carrots. I garnished the concoction with golden raisins and a handful of cilantro.

Creative and delicious! The raisins added sweetness and an awesome chewy texture. I was surprised at how spicy the chana masala was, great choice. The greens, slightly bitter, paired well with the grains and sweet carrots.

The barley experiment was a total success! From the nutritious meals with my julienned veggies to the wholesome breakfast with figs and honey, everything I tried with the toothsome barley was hearty and satisfying.

Barley, batch #2 coming up. I think it is a perfect go-to staple to keep in the fridge for emergencies. Try it and let me know what you come up with!

Leave it the Top Flr guys (Darren Carr, Jeff Myers, Shane Devereux) to introduce yet another new concept to Atlanta! B and I finally dined at their new restaurant, Sound Table, having been there a few times already for cocktails. Only open a few weeks now, this is the space where B and I attended the Dinner Party in February, Darren Carr’s other venture with partner Patrick La Bouff.

The Sound Table is a dual concept; downstairs is a bar/lounge with local and national DJ’s spinning, upstairs is a full restaurant. When the upstairs is winding down, the downstairs is cranking up….literally. Very New York. Jeff Myers, plus a third partner in the business, Karl Injex, are DJ’s so the emphasis on music here is natural. As their ad in Creative Loafing so appropriately states, sound is on the menu.

Their drink menu downstairs is just as detail oriented as the dinner menu upstairs, with a selection of old-fashioned spirits poured and shaken into creative cocktails like the Pink City Rickey and the White Tiger’s Milk.

Upstairs, lights are low, walls are exposed brick. Seating is mostly wood slat benches. Fine if you are wearing pants, not so good if you are wearing a mini dress. But the benches do serve to create a minimalist Asian-style vibe that diners see mirrored throughout the menu.

Our fabulous server Nick started us off with a fantastic 2007 cab, Blue Rock “Baby Blue”. He also recommended the fried sugar snap peas to snack on, calling them “addictive”. Seasoned with soy sauce, they were yummy.

The menu has a multi-culti flair, with everything from Israeli falafel to Algerian cous-cous. Everything is a la carte and reasonably priced to fit the Old Fourth Ward neighborhood. Four sections differentiate portion size and serving style. Bowls, for instance, are served in….you guessed it, bowls. Of the four bowls offered we ordered three; a salad, a soup, and a curry dish.

I love frisee. And duck confit. So the salade frisee, also with macerated raisins, was a given. Crispy and light.

Seeing Vietnamese pho on a menu not on Buford Highway just worries me. I’ve eaten lots of pho, on Buford Highway and in New York. With Vietnamese people. Pho has rules. I’m not sure it’s a good idea to try to duplicate it here, although the presentation was approaching correct. But the broth lacked depth. B and I both wanted more spice.

Ditto on the Kaeng Daeng pork with red curry, coconut milk, and kaffir lime. Served over perfect sticky rice, it needed more sauce, more spice.

Having drank all the cab we moved on to the 2008 Monastrell, Olivares “Altos de la Hoya” from Spain.

Oaxacan hangar steak, medium rare, came on a long plate with a spicy puree. It was tender, flavorful, awesome. I ordered the Belgian-style frites with it, a classic pairing. Hot, crispy, and served with housemade mayo, the fries were cut a bit thick for my taste but B loved them.

Chef Devereux was not there but the kitchen was in the capable hands of his Chef de Cuisine, Andrew Sheridan. As members of the Shane Devereux fanclub, we couldn’t help but be disappointed. Service, however, was spot-on. Dishes were expedited in a steady and professional fashion.

Sweet potato cheesecake (I think) was for dessert. Not made in-house, but good nonetheless. They will be making sweets there soon.

I don’t know how much wine we drank but both B and I were wickedly buzzed as we hobbled down the stairs. WTF? We are usually such pros!

B said it best when she said our meal was good, but not compelling. We are looking forward to returning to Sound Table when they’ve had a minute to smooth out some of the kinks. Good luck boys!

483 Edgewood Avenue at the corner of Boulevard

Under normal circumstances I don’t care for re-runs. Here’s an exception: Saturday at the beach was practically a re-run of Friday, but even more fun! MM and I set up camp as the others gathered beers and supplies. The beach was followed by a brief pool visit, then intoxicated showering.

Seafood was in order and George’s was the place. A brief walk, again in heels, brought us to a quaint yet trendy restaurant in a renovated house. We waited a bit for a table since our group was large and ended up seated on the patio, complete with umbrellas decorated with tiny white lights. Cute.

JS and KS had mentioned their colossal frutta di mare quesadillas the day before, big enough for a meal for two. But for a group of nine, KS thought two would be perfect for appetizers. At $29 each, we could barely polish them off. Drizzled with a spicy aoili and topped with pineapple salsa, each quesadilla was filled with lobster, shrimp, crab, and cheese. Really tasty!

MC and KC, who live in a neighboring town, joined us. They ordered a couple of bottles of Shug pinot noir. ST got a glass of chardonnay and I also opted for white with a semi-sweet reisling.

Entrees were mostly seafood dishes like wild salmon with a cinnamon soy glaze or cioppino, the fish stew of mussels, clams, shrimp and fish in a tomato based broth (that I often find revolting due to my distaste of that combo). MC ordered the seared coconut scallops and gave me a taste. Three ginormous orbs atop a bowl of orzo. Although very nicely done, there were three. It was $27.

I opted for the lemongrass curry shrimp, hoping for 7 or 8 huge prawns since we were on the gulf, but was served about 15 smallish shrimp instead, along with lots of green and red peppers. Disappointing, but the flavor was passable. Again, not a bargain at $24.

Strangely, there were lots of Asian notes to the menu and with my relative expertise on Asian cuisine I should know to stay away from it unless I’m on Buford Highway or at an authentic Asian restaurant. But I rarely listen to my own advice.

Also on offer were lamb chops, spicy Mongol beef tenderloin, Kahlua pork tenderloin for strict carnivores.

Then there was the section of seafood bowls, all of which could be ordered grilled or fried. ST got the fried combo…..shrimp, grouper, and oysters. Served with, what else? Fries. Oh, and don’t forget the fried hushpuppies. The crunch of fried foods is practically irresistable, but it bores me after a bite or two. Batter just masks the flavor. I had an oyster and a fry or two (and maybe a bite of a hushpuppy).

A couple of folks got the grilled grouper bowl. My bite, from KC, totally lacked flavor.

They serve a full lunch menu as well with healthy wraps and spa inspired dishes like the toasted macadamia tofu on a bed of soba noodles which I bet has twice the calories you’d think. Soups, salads, sandwiches, all come in around $13.

No room for sweets, thankfully me and ST had dessert before we left the house!

Portions at George’s are big and so are the price-tags. But the food is solid and certainly worth a visit.

I love Thai food. And I like it Thai hot. Really. Yes, I am a blond American chick but I can eat hot fuckin’ food, don’t patronize me with half-ass spicy, that just pisses me off. I heard Spoon was the real deal, not dumbed-down for Americans. So I took my friend/roommate/neighbor LG for her birthday.

The chef Aim (surely short for something as there are no three letter words or names in Thailand) Suteeluxnaporn and her sister Sujaree own Spoon, the original location on Marietta Street and the new one on Moreland just past Little 5 Points.

The space is modern with dim lighting and partially exposed gray stone that made it feel like a cozy neighborhood joint. Walls are decorated with original art that the sisters picked up in their travels to Thailand.

I wanted to try everything on the menu from the curries to the stir-fries. Basil rolls? I’ve eaten them everywhere and have had them prepared by Vietnamese family of friends, so authentic is what I know and like. I usually get a spicy basil seafood dish at other Thai restaurants like Mali, but really wanted to sample some curries.

On my first visit LG and I tried the basil rolls which were surprisingly vegetarian….no pork, no shrimp. In fact, they were skinny little things with extra thick skin, carrot, basil and not much else. The sauce, however, was spicy, topped with crunchy ground peanuts. We also had the tofu corn cakes. Two thick cakes were served with a sweet and spicy sauce. Topped with fresh cilantro, the cakes were so fluffy and light, really unusual and delicious. LG had the house salad which I found entirely unremarkable.

We started with a riesling and a cold unfiltered sake (nigori). LG ordered the mildly spiced massamun curry with chicken and I tried the roasted duck in red curry. I ordered it hot but not Thai hot, however, I didn’t think there was much spice in it. The sauce was very tasty, as was the massamun, just not spicy. My duck was crispy and tender, dark and gamey. The dish was complimented with lychees.

Most Asian restaurants do not have good desserts. Spoon certainly surpasses everyone in this department. Blueberry chocolate spring rolls are served with coconut ice cream. I’ve heard the chocolate caramel mousse is fantastic but we opted for the mango sticky rice with a pumpkin mousse and green tea ice cream. I love the texture of sticky rice, miss it from the days in NY when it was delivered in a ball of Saran Wrap along with the chicken soup. Really sticky, you can eat it better with chopsticks!

Green tea and azuki ice creams are among my favorite flavors, and it was a great compliment to the sticky rice, as was the delicately sweet pumpkin mousse. We were stuffed!

I’m really looking forward to trying some of their other Thai standards like the beef salad, panang curry with shrimp and the spicy basil stir fry….maybe for lunch next week. I’ll update on subsequent dishes!

Eastside, 749 Moreland Ave 404-624-4713
Westside, 768 marietta St. 404-522-5655
www.spoonatlanta.com